Do we really want to face Portland again? Who's checking Aldridge and Lilliard? Batum locked Harden down last time we played.
^ Plus I would rather play GS than Spurs in second round. GS is still relatively inexperienced in playoffs, 1st year coach, showing some weakness recently. Not yet clear how their high flying style of play will fare in playoffs. Spurs have won 21 out of their last 24 going back to 2/25 (with average point differential something over 10 points), including last 11 games. In addition, they are definition of battle tested playoff team.
I felt it was more Matthews than anything. Now they won't even have Afflalo. If Asik and Dwight couldn't "check" LMA, no one can. At the very least Smith has some semblance of an offensive game and TJ won't be a total no-show. And of course you can't ignore that Ariza and Brewer are an infinitely better defensive wing tandem than Parsons and Hamilton. Also Batum isn't quite the 2 way player he was last year. With all their injuries, he will have to pick up some offensive load and thus his defense on Harden may suffer.
And remember, the question is not -- do we want to face Portland. It is, would we rather face the Clippers?
That is true but I believe Utah has now stopped trying to win and are thinking about draft position again. They rested players against Portland. Hopefully they do it again Wednesday. Also Dwight won't get owned by Gobert like Dorsey did.
Love the loser mentality smh. This team has a healthy harden and dwight. If both of the perform at their peak we will be hard for any team to beat..... It's easy to pessimistic but we've waited all year for this now is not time to think next year, your better than this DD.
A lot of how good they are next year, and who they have on the team depends on this season. The Rockets lost in the first round last year. They need to take the next step and win a series and be competitive in the second round if there is any real hope at an elite team next year. The loss of Beverley and Motiejunas are unfortunate but not crippling. This 8 man rotation can win a first round series against Dallas or Portland. The Rockets need to win out and there is a good shot they will be the 3 or 5 seed. A strong win in round 1, and a hard fought second round series (like GS had last year) will help retaining players like Josh Smith and motivate Alexander and Morey to be bold solving the PG and PF problems.
Come on man... don't be like that. You post 6,000+ posts a year... and you're being all loner downer on us... have some faith, man...
Next year Dwight is a year older, and one out of Smith and Brewer is likely gone. Beverley if re-signed should not start, and you'll be counting on guys like rookie Llull and sophomore Capella to make up the difference. It could work, but there's a lot of uncertainty. The point is that every year in the NBA should be valued highly. Like Pat Riley and Sam Presti, we should appreciate each year because the team can fall off a cliff, just in one offseason. This year our strength remains our bench, our defense, and our MVP. We can do a lot of damage with them, even if there are some potentially fatal flaws like turnovers and FT shooting. We'll think about the rest later.
yeah, and DMo, Smith, Brewer might all be gone next year for all we know plus can Howard's knee even last another season we still gotta go for it this year because Howard looks like he's hitting his groove just in time for playoffs
I guess our choke-job last season against Portland and the injuries to Bev and DMo really killed my optimism. I don't see how we can defeat Portland. Aldridge will light us up, as he does against undersized defenders. If you switch D12 onto LA12, Lopez is going to feast on the boards and putbacks. Lilliard will light up Terry. Brew may be able to hamper him but is McHale going to be smart enough to make that move? Wes is out but Batum did a very good job in our last match-up. Ariza will keep Batum in check offensively, so that's a positive. If Afflalo is indeed out, that is helpful. When Batum goes out, Harden -should- score buckets. Portland Bench: Steve Blake - Chris Kaman - CJ McCollum - Meyers Leonard Houston Bench: Pablo Prigioni - Josh Smith - Corey Brewer - Joey Dorsey Portland has 4 seven footers, we have one. We're going to get outrebounded. Leonard is climbing the ranks of "Scrubs who kill the Rockets" this season. They will take advantage of our FT shooting issues without a doubt. Howard will get his but they'll work to limit Harden again. 0.9 scarred me man. I just want the Rox to prove me wrong. A first round victory to provide a foundation for this team. Please. I
I truly believe that we have enough to get to the WCF this year on paper, but right now the team just isn't playing well, primarily (IMO) due to the fact that there have been so many lineup changes this season due to injury.
If Grizzlies, Rockets, Spurs, Clippers win out: 2. Spurs 3. Clippers 4. Blazers 5. Grizzlies (home court) 6. Rockets 7. Mavs
